Confessions: I guilt-pledged to the Eisley Kickstarter

Eisley at SXSW 2011

The first time I heard about pledge projects when a longtime blogging friend tagged me in a post on Facebook and said, “Hey, you might be interested in this since you like local music!” The band was Harrison Hudson – a duo from Tennessee I had never heard before. I clicked the link to their Kickstarter campaign and learned all about how pledging worked. More than anything, I’ll admit, as a music fan I was thoroughly charmed by the idea of playing a role in recording an album. Isn’t that every fan’s dream?

So I donated to this band I didn’t know. They made their goal, recorded their album and several months later…I got my copy of the album and T-shirt and a few other goodies in the mail. It felt good to know that I had done a little something to directly help an artist put good music into the world.

After that, I donated to other campaigns – mostly for bands wanting to record albums. I’ve gotten copies of every album, scored a few T-shirts, received liner note love and signed one-of-a-kind lyric sheets, been invited to an exclusive house show and even gone home with handmade Christmas ornaments of band members…but above all else, I helped them create their music.

So when Eisley launched their Kickstarter in April to help fund their upcoming tour, I was excited to check it out and support a different kind of project for one of my favorite bands. I clicked on the page and things quickly took a turn.

Yes, Eisley was looking to fund touring for their new album, Currents. Why were they turning to fans now? Because “Eisley has dedicated the last 15 years (over half of most of our lives) to you, the fans – giving you 4 full-length albums, 10 EP’s, and over 23 full-length tours…” But more specifically because touring would be “more difficult than ever, since we not only have to support ourselves on these tours, but we have four beautiful new mouths to feed, safely transport, and care for.”

And as a fan…this didn’t sit well with me – I felt like the pledge medium as an easy way to access fan’s wallets was being taken advantage of. In the past, I’ve donated to projects by bands I love and want to hear more music from – and I felt like I got what I paid for. I hope that doesn’t make me sound like an entitled fan because that’s not my goal – but a pledge project is like any investment…you invest because you want to see a return on that investment and because (hopefully) you believe in the project.

Did I want Eisley to tour? Absolutely. After four kids, I had pretty much resigned to the fact that I’d never see them live again. Touring with kiddos is too hard, and from following most of the band on Twitter…I’ve caught enough comments about how expensive touring is that I expected the band to fold.

But knowing that, did I feel like helping them invest in more expensive transportation modes because they had chosen to have children and then tour so quickly afterwards was a project I could believe in? Not so much…

So I didn’t donate – at first. But I didn’t let myself forget about it. Every four or five days, I would pop back on when I saw them post about it. After a few times, I finally went through the list of incentives – an online show, an exclusive EP, a one-of-a-king never-to-be-sold-again cardigan…some cool stuff. Cool stuff I kind of really wanted and was never going to be able to get anywhere else. I still didn’t donate, but now I was a little more invested, if only for what I’d physically get out of it.

With less than five days to go, I got on the site and reread their campaign pitch.

“Eisley has dedicated the last 15 years (over half of most of our lives) to you, the fans – giving you 4 full-length albums, 10 EP’s, and over 23 full-length tours…”

And then I felt bad – guilty, even. This band had given me all this music – beautiful, unique, ethereal music so unlike anything else I listen to and unlike anything I’d expect from a Texas band – so couldn’t I spare a few bucks to support them? A good groupie would…

Guilt tripped to the max, I proceeded to pick not one, but two levels at which to pledge.

I guilt pledged.

I realize now that was wrong. The project didn’t meet it’s goal earlier this week, but I never should have pledged to a project I didn’t believe in 100% in the first place.

Why?

Because it was breaking the band/fan agreement of what our relationship is about first, foremost and always: the music.

Asking your fans to help pay for a big, fancy tour bus because of personal, non-music decisions band members had made was the wrong way to go. Sure that gets you out on the road, but what happens when this tour is done and we’re back to square one?

And then to throw in how you’ve done this all for your fans, as though you are owed this somehow? Fans are there to support you because they love your music. It really is that simple – remember that and don’t take advantage of it. (The same goes on the fan side: you are there for music, don’t take advantage.)

What really sucks about it is you get one shot at a pledge project – and Eisley blew their’s. Pledge projects are great, but they really aren’t a sustainable way to finance a band. I’ve donated once to several bands for various projects, but I’m not likely to do so again.

All that aside, I do still love Eisley and I can’t wait for Currents to come out next Tuesday. I just wish they would have gone about their Kickstarter differently – or waited to tour until their babies were older. I could have gone another year without seeing them if that meant pledging to a music-based project…

Comments

i know this is an older post, but Neil and I were talking the other day about pledge projects and when is it not okay to ask for money. He&#39;s pledged to a couple of projects, and we both pledged to the Pure Pop Buy-a-Brick scheme (Pure Pop being a local record store that required soundproofing to keep their business viable after some neighbours complained). But there&#39;s definitely some

Glad it&#39;s not just me who feels that way about some of the projects I see. I go back to what I said at the end – it really sucks because I feel like bands have ONE shot at a pledge project, and if you blow it on something stupid…your devoted fans aren&#39;t likely to come back for round two, which means you have to find NEW fans…<br /><br />It&#39;ll be interesting to see how this whole